Meditation - Bringing Peace on Earth This Christmas

Originating from Vedic Hinduism, meditation has become a mainstream component of today's Eastern religions as well as a mainstay in western culture. Ranging from Buddhist practices, Hare Krishna peddlers and everything in between.

However, the two cultures differ in the way they look at meditation. Western culture defines meditation as 'a state whereby the mind focuses on one thing and forgets about all else.' This is commonly used by people trying to quit smoking or lose weight. More of a 'self hypnosis' than anything else.

The Eastern culture defines it as "the switching off of the mind", ie... thinking about nothing at all. This is done in order to 'open one's self to the oneness of being' and communicate with the "universal mind or consciousness" in an attempt to transcend oneself, to "go beyond the bounds of the flesh"'

In the Christian religion, there are different meditative practices which have been adopted as traditioins. Most all of them are monastic in nature, such as the Holy Rosary, prayers of Adoration and The Eucharist in Catholic Religion which is also known as the hesychasm in Eastern Orthodoxy.

Mediation in today's mainstream Christian religion is more commonly known as Prayer, which is usually done by by contemplating on a 'higher figure' or 'God'. It has it's roots in the final test that a "knight to be" took on the eve of his knighthood, wherein he fasted and took a vigil while contemplating on his upcoming role as a defender of the faith.

The Philokalia (Wikipedia defines Philokalia as, "love of the beautiful, the exalted, the excellent, understood as the transcendent source of life and the revelation of Truth.") defines this practice as 'Theism (as defined by Answers.com as Belief in the existence of a god or gods, especially belief in a personal God as creator and ruler of the world).

Christianity has taken meditation and incorporated it into all parts of its dogma. The Catholic church and the Orthodox church both incorporate repetitive chanting, the use of the Rosary and other mantras to focus their worshippers thoughts and actions on the single ideal preached by them.